Christopher John Morey (26 Jan 1963 - 6 Feb 2019)

In loving memory of Christopher John Morey who sadly passed away on 6th February 2019.

Dear Friends and Family.
Thank you all so much for your support and prayers, the Masses and the general overwhelming love we've received from you all over the past few difficult weeks. Rather than try to compose a new Biography for Chris, forgive me, but I am simply attaching my "Tribute" (which I read at his Funeral on Wednesday) to our gorgeous, funny, gregarious, (occasionally - ahem!) annoying, but very-much-loved Brother. Life is going to be so very different without him, but we are determined that Summer is going to grow up knowing ALL her family (that means all of you no matter where you are around the globe) Aunts and Uncles, cousins, second cousins, friends, Salesian Old Boys, old school friends, drinking companions (?!), ALL OF YOU. You meant so much to Chris, you mean so very much to us and we, along with Lorna, Dan and Suki, want Summer to know about her Daddy's heritage, his past life and his fabulous, fabulous family. My love to you all and Thank You again so very much. Fran x

CHRIS
Christopher John Morey came into the world on 26th January in the bitterly cold and snowy winter of 1963. He was born in the family home in Burwood Road, Hersham and he was delivered by the unfortunately named midwife, Nurse Clap! Now Nurse Clap was a bit of an old battleaxe and I remember that - as toddlers - Clare and I were pretty frightened of her. I think poor Dad was more than a bit scared of her too, as she had him cooking her fry-ups every time she came to the house…… but she did help Chris into the world, so she certainly did something good.
Whilst Chris was on his way, Clare and I were being looked after by our dear Nana and Grandpa and once he’d arrived Nana came to us and told us that a very special person had come to join us. Oh the excitement! Could it be Yogi Bear, or Huckleberry Hound? ….. they were our favourites at the time…..

Imagine our disappointment when we were taken into Mum and Dad’s bedroom and there in a carrycot on the floor was a small, pink, thing making a horrid noise. That was the first time we set eyes on our baby brother.
Growing up, Chris was a normal boisterous, relatively naughty and obviously slightly annoying little brother. There was the day (aged about 4) when he left home on his red and white tricycle. He got as far as Westcar Lane – which from our house was about 150 yards – and then he decided to come home again!
Another day he sat in the driveway and pushed stones so far up his nose that he had to be taken to A & E to have them removed.

On another occasion he was found – again sitting in the driveway – with a rather large stag beetle hanging from his little finger. It had taken a very firm grip and poor little Chris was not happy. Daddy came to the rescue – the stag beetle was duly dealt with.
Then there was the Christmas Eve when - aged 3 – Chris slipped on a pack – of all things – Happy Families playing cards – and broke his leg. He spent Christmas and the next few weeks in the Childrens’ Ward in St Peter’s Hospital.
He was funny even as a little boy. Our little sister Caroline was born when Chris was 10. We all loved having a baby in the house and took turns to help Mum where we could.
There are numerous photos of us all as children, and Caroline was a really beautiful baby (she’s still beautiful of course!) but there was one really lovely photograph of the 4 of us. Me at the top, then Clare, then Chris and finally little Caroline at the bottom. Really gorgeous. Until you took a closer look and saw that Chris was completely cross-eyed! Ruined the whole thing. He thought it was brilliant…..

Chris was a pupil at Cardinal Newman and then at Salesian school in Chertsey. He wasn’t exactly a Grade A student, but he made lots of great friends and he stayed in touch with many of them over the years.
In his time at Cardinal Newman he made several memorable appearances on stage in school productions. He was a brilliant Toad in Toad of Toad Hall, but his funniest role was in a Shakespeare play (I can’t remember which one now) when he had a non-speaking part as a Silly Fool, where he pretty much just hammed it up in the background. He was hilarious and the audience loved it. It completely distracted everyone from the main characters on stage, but the packed house was just waiting for his next appearance – he was absolutely wonderful. So funny.
He played football for the Salesian Old Boys and again, formed great friendships with many of that happy band of brothers. Chris loved the Old Boys dearly and spent many a happy hour not just playing football with them, but singing and dancing his heart out - such a wonderful, warm bunch of friends. I know lots of you are here today and that’s a great comfort to us.

Sadly, Chris’s career in Hollywood didn’t quite take off – so he became a Carpenter; and a very good carpenter he was too. He had several very happy years working with John and Ted Tickner and also with Arthur Gibson.
Both the Tickner and the Gibson families were (and still are) great friends of the Moreys, so Chris – although he did do some work I hope – thoroughly enjoyed himself in such good company.
Later on, Chris went out on his own and he did a lot of wonderful carpentry work for clients all over the local area.
Always that Larger than Life, Bit of a Rascal character, there are so many funny stories about Chris that I could be here all day, but I promise you I won’t be. A few things sprang to mind as I started to write this.

There was the infamous Night Fishing expedition with Eamon Gibson. Early on that Saturday evening Chris made a huge picnic to sustain them through the long night ahead. He and Eamon then had their pre-fishing warm-up session in the Waterman’s Arms. That might not have been such a sensible idea…. They came back to our house a bit the worse for wear at about 9pm, picked up their fishing rods, their bait and their picnic and off they went to the river Mole. We didn’t expect to see them until 7 or 8 o’clock the next morning.
I’m not sure quite why I was at home on a Saturday night, but I was and about halfway through “Match of the Day” there was a noisy kerfuffle outside the front door and Chris and Eamon staggered into the hall. So much for the fishing trip…. vidently they’d arrived at the riverbank, got both their fishing rods tangled up in a willow tree, eaten their picnic, drunk their beer and decided to call it a night. Not a stickleback between them, but they said they’d had a great time!

A very, very long time ago now, on the occasion of my 21st birthday party Chris took an instant dislike to one of my guests, a colleague and good friend of mine and Clare’s at the time – one Simon Cowell – we were both working at EMI music at the time. I’m not sure what started it, but there was a bit of an altercation which ended with Chris punching Simon on the nose! I think Simon and his brother left quite soon after that and for some inexplicable reason, Chris ended up on the roof yelling joyfully “Who’s with me?!! “
I was going to leave out the next story for fear of offending anyone, but it does so typify Chris’s wicked sense of humour and cheekiness, that I’ve left it in. I really hope nobody is offended, and that you WILL just regard it as another humorous anecdote about our very funny brother.

Chris was walking into the wine bar here in Hersham one day when he recognised a chum he hadn’t seen for ages sitting at the bar. He thought this friend had put on a bit of weight and that he’d give him a surprise by sneaking up behind him as he was sitting with his back to the door. Chris approached him from behind, grabbed a handful of excess flesh on either side of the poor fellow’s waist and shouted “Chubby!” …… only for the poor chap to turn round – and Chris had never seen him before in his life!
Somehow, Chris managed to get away with stuff like this without getting a black eye. It seems he would just say, “Sorry mate”, buy them a beer, shake their hand… and that would be that. He just had that lovable rogue-ish way about him.

Chris went travelling a bit – spent one summer living on a beach in Corfu – and the girls all loved him. Like bees round a honeypot! Caroline tells stories about how when she was at school, being that much younger, her friends all used to say “Let’s go to Caroline Morey’s house, because we might see Chris!”
You’ll all know how much Chris loved Chelsea football club. He’d been a season ticket holder for years when he lived back here and we’ve been told that he was known affectionately by some locals in Hayle as “Chelsea Chris”. I usually bought him a Chelsea T-shirt or sweatshirt for Christmas or for his birthday – his wardrobe was a bit limited!
He also loved Rod Stewart. Anyone who knew Chris MUST have heard his rendition of “Baby Jane” many, many times. He loved musicals as well, particularly “Oliver” and “Scrooge”.
He did have some lovely, lovely girlfriends, several of whom are still close family friends and very much part of our lives even if they didn’t stay in touch with Chris.
It was after his long relationship with Sara that Chris headed down to Cornwall. Chris being Chris, he went the long way round - via Montenegro - where he was planning to make his millions, but that didn’t quite work out and he found himself living in Hayle.
He was very, very happy. He loved Cornwall. Loved the beaches and the sea, he loved the moors and the wild places and he settled very happily into his new life there. His dogs, initially Bonnie, and then Alfie, were his constant companions, and Chris found carpentry work to keep him busy, so life was good.
It was a shame that he was so far away from all of us, but he came back to Hersham as and when he could, and we had numerous weekends and holidays down in Cornwall with him. Caroline and her boys particularly had several wonderful holidays with Chris, and always came back with stories of his antics and tomfoolery.
Chris met Lorna and they were together for some time before their beautiful baby daughter, Summer Rose, was born in June 2010. Chris had never been so happy. Summer really WAS the sunshine of his life and he simply loved her beyond words. Sadly, Chris and Lorna went their separate ways, but Summer now has a wonderful new family with Lorna and Dan and little sister Suki, and we know that she is now growing up in the loveliest, warm and caring family anyone could possibly hope for.

Chris had wonderful times with Summer; his days with her were always the absolute highlight of his week. They shared time on the beaches and swimming in the sea, going for walks and playing with Alfie, and Chris cooked enormous roast lunches on Sundays. I think a lot of the time they just spent larking around – they had great fun together just being daft. He was so very, very proud of his little girl – and so are we.
Unfortunately, the past couple of years were not at all easy for Chris. He developed arthritis in his hands and his shoulder which prevented him from working, he became depressed, and this started him on the slippery downward slope.

Mum’s stroke last May can’t have helped either; but none of us were aware of the real nature or severity of his illness until he was in the hospital in Cornwall and by then it was far too late to do anything to help him.
He did have one last laugh on his sisters though. We were at his bedside at the hospital on the morning he died and we knew he was fading fast. Suddenly he was still. There was much weeping and wailing in typical Morey sisters fashion and Clare rushed to find a nurse. Nurse came in and said “Oh he hasn’t gone yet!” And he hadn’t. Chris stayed with us for another few minutes or so and then he slipped away.

The staff in the Intensive Care Unit in the Royal Cornwall Hospital were wonderful – we will be forever grateful for all they did to make Chris’s final hours as comfortable as they could be.
We are also indebted to Lorna and her family for all THEY did, and thanks too, to Chris’s friends in Hayle, especially Alex and Tony & Hayley, who were so supportive and offered to help when he was so low.
It’s a great comfort to us to see so many of you here today, thank you so much for being here. We’ve been overwhelmed by the love and support we’ve received and I’d like to thank you on behalf of the whole family. Thank you also Father Richard for your love, support and pastoral care over the past few weeks – it’s been a tremendous help to us all.

Chris, you’ve gone far too soon and we will always love and miss you but we know you’re now at peace.
For all the love, laughter and happiness you’ve given us over the years, in the words of your favourite song from Scrooge, “Thank you Very Much.”